Arts

An education that prepares you for life

In today’s rapidly changing world, one thing stays the same: employers want to hire well-informed graduates who can think critically, communicate clearly, analyze and solve problems, innovate, and challenge the norm. The Bachelor of Arts degree at StFX cultivates these qualities, and more. A degree in Arts will change the way you perceive and interpret the world around you.

New and innovative programs: A new way to approach learning

First-year undergraduate Arts students can now access new programs designed to blend academic study with interdisciplinary connection and learning. The colloquium programs also provide a residential option, providing you the opportunity to live and learn among your peers who share common academic interests.

Humanities Colloquium: An optional first-year program in which students will learn from the greatest teachers—The Bible, the Qur’an, Plato, Sophocles, Aristotle, Virgil, St. Augustine, and many others. Students take philosophy, English and Art History, taught collaboratively, as if they were a single course.

Social Justice Colloquium: A first-year option in which Bachelor of Arts students are enrolled in dedicated sections of Anthropology, Global History and Women’s & Gender Studies. Students will explore the range of human experiences from our pre-human roots to the diversity of our present-day lives around the world and develop an understanding about how social change movements have influenced our society. Your classroom learning will be enriched with meaningful service work in the local area.

Public Policy and Governance: A new four-year program in the Faculty of Arts, with honours, major and minor degree options. Students gain insight and skills in public affairs, leadership, how and why government decisions are made, and options for tackling a broad range of public issues, within local and global communities.

StFX has also recently introduced a new approach to education -- join arts and sciences degree -- in the below topics:

The BASc in Health offers an interdisciplinary approach to health, drawing on scientific, social and humanistic fields. Students who study health from joint arts and science perspectives will have a balanced understandingof the interrelated nature of health, including medical, social, ethical and cultural factors. Unique in Canada, this program will give a competitive edge to students who want a career in a health-related field.

The global response to climate change affirms the need for an approach that speaks to the scientific and social dimensions of our environment. With an interdisciplinary focus on the related - but distinct - fields of climate and environment, this degree program will examine the physical, biological and chemical composition of our world, our societal relationship with nature and how the Earth’s energy balance affects our environment. This multi-faceted approach is perfectly suited to students who seek an interdisciplinary education with a unique strength in both climate and environment.

From the Dean

"The Faculty of Arts at StFX is dedicated to preparing its students to engage with, contribute to, and challenge the world. The development of an analytical and critical approach to the rapidly shifting realities of a contemporary global society requires the kind of flexibility learned through encountering the complexities of history and art, politics and literature, economics and philosophy, psychology and music, anthropology and religion - and their countless interactions. If your goal is to understand yourself and your culture more deeply, and to learn how to powerfully express the insights you have gained, then the Faculty of Arts provides all the opportunities you'll need. Join us, and receive an education that will enhance both your career and life."

Dr. Karen BrebnerDean of Arts, St. Francis Xavier University

Contact Us

Office of the Dean of Arts:Phone: 1.902.867.2165Fax: 1.902.867.2793Email:jaker@stfx.ca

“Altogether, I think we ought to read only books that bite and sting us. If the book we are reading doesn't shake us awake like a blow on the skull, why bother reading it in the first place….A book must be the axe for the frozen sea within us.”